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If you know me, then you know there are few things in this world I love more than dogs, and specifically, my dog. She is my miniature dachshund named Maisy, and she turned three years old today. When she’s not being a pain in the butt, she is the sweetest, cuddliest dog, with big, wet kisses to spare and a love for anything chewable (which is most things, for her). I’ve wanted to try making homemade treats for her for a while, so I decided to give it a try this weekend for her birthday. There are going to be people reading this who are thinking about how insane I am for caring so much about my dog’s birthday, and I am perfectly fine with that. I made these treats and my dog loved them and I loved making them, and that’s really all that matters to me.

Maisy’s favorite human food is yogurt. She cries and shakes in excitement when any of us are eating it and can’t wait to lick the container when we’re done. I’m not entirely sure why she loves it so much, but I wanted to make her birthday treats with her favorite food ever. All of the foods in this recipe are people food but are dog safe. You could theoretically switch out the fruit in it for something your dog may like more, or whatever you want to change and experiment with; if you do, let me know what you did! I’m also going to include a link to a list of dog-safe human foods from the AKC website, in case you are wondering about what foods are okay to give to your puppy, so we can all safely experiment with this recipe.

Homemade Yogurt & Banana Puppy Treats

You will need:

32 oz. Yogurt (plain)

Peanut Butter (1-2 tablespoons)

1 Banana

Honey (1 tablespoon)

Cookie mold (preferably silicone, for the purpose of getting them out once they’re done)

I took all of the ingredients and put them into a blender, and that’s the hardest part. This recipe is that easy. Make sure to slice the banana into chunks to make it easier to blend.

Then, blend it up! Don’t do what I did and put the bananas at the bottom – it can gum up the blades and it won’t process as well. I would add them at the top to avoid that little mistake.

Do it right and it should look something like this vanilla pudding looking concoction.

Now, take a silicone mold and fill them with the mixture, but make sure not to overfill them. I bought the precious flower one below at Hobby Lobby in the cake decorating section.

Once they’re full, pop the mold in the freezer for two-ish hours so they can freeze. After that, you’re done! Store them in a ziploc bag in the freezer and you’re good to go.

Maisy loved these, and I hope your dog will too! She scarfs them down like they’re going out of style. They are totally human grade, but not super tasty; try it for yourself and see how you like them! Maybe they’ll be a treat for you too. If you’re really into peanut butter and banana sandwiches, I have a feeling you’ll like these, because that’s exactly what they taste like.

If you are always looking for ways to pass the time, like I am, podcasts are awesome. I mostly listen to them on my walk to class, while I’m doing homework, or on long car trips; they are a great alternative to music if you’re just not in the mood for it, or for when you are focused on a task and don’t need to be distracted by a TV show or video but still need the background noise of someone talking. There are so many podcasts out there for so many topics, and whether you like cooking or true crime or sports, there is something out there in the podcasting world for you to listen to, and it’s totally free! This week I’ve wrangled up a few of my favorites to get you started, as well as links to their websites where you can learn more about them. If you have an iPhone, they can all be downloaded through the Podcasts app available through the App Store for free (my favorite price).

I’m hoping to get back into the swing of blogging really soon – March was an extremely busy month, but with the semester almost over I should have more time to blog in the next month or so. Now if I can just make it through finals, we’ll be golden.

This is quickly becoming my favorite podcast of all time. It has made me guffaw on the bus, Starbucks, walking down the street, everywhere. Every episode is hilarious. In this podcast, affectionately called MBMBaM, three brothers answer listener submitted questions in a Dear Abby style advice column, but with a hilarious, quirky style of witty humor that for some reason just speaks to me. It isn’t overly dirty or offensive, and while it definitely has its moments, I feel like its humor is such that you’re enjoying it too much to be offended. They also have a Yahoo Answers segment where listeners submit goofy Yahoo Answers questions they’ve found, as well as a “Farm Wisdom” segment where they discuss farm-related myths and superstitions, which, as out of place as it sounds, fits right in with the offbeat charm of the show. I absolutely recommend this for whenever you just need a good, long, belly laugh. Episode 39: Peepum’s Nastygum is my all time favorite, for obvious reasons.

I love anything true crime related. Murder mysteries, detective work, the criminal justice system; all of it interests me. Criminal is an interesting twist on the traditional crime story, however. Narrated by Phoebe Judge, Criminal focuses on all aspects of crime, and every episode introduces a new, real-life story of something involved with the criminal world. For example, my favorite episode so far, “Officer Talon” tells the story of a police K9 dog Talon and his officer Scott Foster, explaining their unique bond and what happens when a K9 dog retires. One of my other favorites, and one of the most mind-blowing things I have ever heard, is from the episode “Money Tree” about a girl whose parents identities were stolen. I won’t spoil it for you, but the twists in these episodes! Criminal is a must-listen if these kinds of things interest you.

I love humor in all its forms, and I love to laugh. Mortified is an interesting take on a stand-up comedy style podcast where people do something I would never in a million years have the courage to do: they stand up in front of a crowd of people and read their childhood diaries, letters, notes, and other embarrassing mementos of times they would probably rather hide from the world. While this seems cringey and too awkward to enjoy, it is completely the opposite (trust me – I have an uncanny secondhand embarrassment sixth sense). It is so funny to hear people read the things they wrote as awkward middle schoolers or love struck teens. Mortified also does my favorite thing a podcast has ever done, where at the end of each episode, they have a one-on-one interview with the subject of that episode where they talk about their life at the time of that writing. While it can be vulgar in the way that teenage antics can be, it’s definitely not anything too raunchy. My favorite episode is still “Tynan: Peace! One Luv!” and if you listen, you will see why.

Now, I will admit, this is one of the weirder and more niche podcasts on this list. From the same brothers that do My Brother, My Brother, and Me, The Adventure Zone is a podcast where the brothers play Dungeons and Dragons, joined by their dad. While listening to four people play Dungeons and Dragons sounds more boring than watching paint dry, again, there is something about their offbeat style of humor that could make even the wettest of paint seem interesting. I even think people not super into the whole Dungeons and Dragons thing could really enjoy this podcast; not only is the humor totally on point, the brothers’ characters really take on lives of their own in the best ways.

Happy Monday, everyone! Am I the only one still dreaming about Sunday mornings? They’re my favorite, especially when I’m home.

One of my favorite things to do on weekends when I’m home from school is cook something. It’s difficult to cook something from scratch in college, so I usually just save up all the recipes I want to try for the weekends. This weekend, breakfast food was calling my name, and I found a perfect, easy recipe for French toast on Pinterest that I immediately wanted to try. It’s the easiest recipe I’ve ever done; the part that takes the most patience is browning the bread, and once you get into the groove of it, it gets easier.

I used this recipe from Tastes Better from Scratch after I found it on Pinterest. It worked out really well! It made about 12 pieces, after I cut the bread into diagonal halves. It was perfect for the four people in our house. While this is different than what I said my next post would be, this idea just grabbed hold and I couldn’t wait to share it.

This is how it all started! I didn’t have the thick bread that the recipe called for so I just used regular white bread. It worked just fine, so don’t worry if you can’t get your hands on it. I would recommend being more mindful of how long you soak the bread in the mixture, however, because it can be tricky to cook if it’s too saturated.

(Also – that milk is the best. It’s local milk from a dairy in Oxford, MS. It’s more like heavy cream than milk!)

The mix will look something like the one on the left – don’t worry about the lumps, either, they’re completely normal. I also adjusted the amount of cinnamon in mine – while the recipe called for 3/4 tsp. of cinnamon, I used 1/4 and it was perfect. I used a shallow glass pie plate to mix it in and covered both sides of a piece of regular ol’ white bread in it, making sure not to leave it in too long so it’s not too wet to cook. After that, I browned the bread in a buttered pan on low heat until it felt less squishy and more like toast. This part can take a minute – it takes some patience and some fiddling to find a good balance and get just the right heat to brown the bread but not burn it. However, I did it right on the first try, so don’t worry about it being too complicated; if I can do it, so can you.

And it’s that easy! This was done in probably 30-45 minutes (with the help of my super cool mom, of course). It tasted great and didn’t last very long in our house. You can add any toppings you want, too – powdered sugar, fruit, syrup, anything. I opted for just syrup 🙂

And you’re all done! I hope your weekend was restful and happy, and I hope you got to eat some sweet breakfast treats like this one. 🙂

Happy Monday and happy (almost) Valentine’s Day! I hope it was filled with love and chocolate, even if you had to raid the clearance candy aisle at Wal-Mart for it; no judgement here.

My sweet friend Marissa and I decided that since we are riding solo this Valentines’ Day, we would gift each other Galentines’ gifts just for fun. One thing I love to do is put together gifts for other people! My favorite way to gift is to put lots of small things together to make a fun “grab bag” type of gift. You can add some personality items along with some more generic items to create a personalized gift that feels more involved; and who doesn’t love getting lots of smaller things instead of one big thing? Also, if done right, it can end up being very budget-friendly. I wanted this post to be somewhat of a gift guide for future holidays and to possibly give you some inspiration on putting together gifts for all of the special people in your life. This is a great idea for friends’ birthdays, too!

So, because Valentines’/Galentines’ has passed, I can finally share what I put together for Marissa’s gift! I hope this inspires you to get your gifting on for your loved ones.

The big item I started with was this sweet wooden giraffe picture from Hobby Lobby. I was hoping to find a giraffe something for her because she loves them – and I just so happened to find this in the baby decor aisle. Don’t be afraid to look there! A lot of the baby themed items at Hobby Lobby are cute and can double as decor for non-babies, too

I also got the ceramic pig from Hobby Lobby, it was too cute not to pick up! And since most things at Hobby Lobby are on sale, it didn’t break the (piggy) bank, either. Little personalized items like this are my favorite to include.

And, last but not least, my favorite part… the candy. As a candy lover myself, I think it’s extremely important to keep a list of your friends’ favorite candy. It’s a no-nonsense gift idea that is generally a pretty safe bet, because who doesn’t love candy? I threw in some Swedish Fish and Skittles, and of course, is it a real Valentines’ gift without chocolate?

I hope this helps give you some ideas for your own gifts. While gifting can be difficult and stressful, I find that this method helps a lot with the stress of finding one perfect gift; instead, you can put together a few smaller items to make something personalized and sweet.